Discussion

Electric Fryer for Home Use

Sorry, I posted this in the wrong forum, Home Cooking. Just getting to know the place. Here goes again....

Electric Fryer for Home Use

Im having a tough time deciding between the T Fal EZ Clean 3.25 quart and the Waring Pro DF250 3.75 quart. Also in the running is the Aroma DF 212 5 quart and the Rival CZF745 Cool Zone 4.5 quart.

Aparently the T Fal EZ Clean is nearly the same as the Emeril Fryer but with a knob. I prefer the knob, though I like the styling of the Emeril better.

I guess what is comes down to is these questions.

The more oil the better to maintain temp after adding frozen ingredients, right? So bigger is better....however the wattage in an appliance like this is limited, so you also want a fryer that can bring its oil up quickly, so the smaller the better, right?

How handy is the EZ Clean drain feature on the T Fal?

Which has the simplest controls? The 2 knobs on the Waring pro look promising.

Does anyone have experience with any of these and would they share it?

Generally speaking what are people's experiences with home fryers? My wife wants one, but I see it as just a mess waiting to happen. How frequently do you change the oil? Do they hold heat well enough?

In a nut-shell, it wouldn't heat up properly and when food was added, it dropped temperature so far and never heated back up. I've been usinig deep friers for ages and the T-Fal was the worst I've ever seen.

It's too bad Cook's Illustrated hasn't tested deep friers in years. I'm back to a large cast iron pot and a thermometer. That never fails.

I went back to a pot and thermometer when my old Rival died (a model they no longer make, of course) . It did reheat fast, but only came up to about 350F instead of the 375F advertised. There is at least one thread out there about the EZ Clean. Many were happy with it, but others reported problems with leaking seals that caused major oil spills.

I haven't had a leakage problem with the EZ Clean. If the seal between the fryer and the oil container did fail, the resulting mess would be humongous. If the safety thermostat that allows the oil drain to open were to fail, the result could be catastrophic. For this reason, I never open the drain until the oil is cool.

I tried two or three electric fryers and liked none of them. Now I use a cast iron dutch oven, which is also useful for pot roast, etc. It's much more convenient, and I don't have yet another gadget to store somewhere.

I had one years ago (a T-Fal, I believe). Deep frying is just a messy proposition, period. Even with the best exhaust vent it stinks up the kitchen and makes an enormous mess. My wife's family does a big fried everything shebang once a year and we use a propane fryer -- outdoors. Unless you have a few minimum-wage workers available to set it up and do the clean-up afterwards, leave the deep frying to the pros.

I have a T Fal EZ Clean. I'm not sure exactly how long I've had it, but it was new on the Canadian market at the time. I've been very pleased.

It heats reasonably fast, and temperature recovery has always been acceptable. It fries decently. The exterior remains acceptably cool during use. The build quality, while not exactly impressive, is more than adequate. Plastic parts have not deteriorated. The exhaust filter works and the viewing window doesn't cloud during use. The EZ Clean oil cleaning system works as advertised, and really is extremely easy to use. Everything but the power unit can go into the dishwasher. The oil unit can go directly into the fridge between uses.

Negatives are the huge minimum oil requirement (it is prohibitively expensive to fry a small quantity of something that won't allow for oil reuse), the exposed sensing wires, and a much too sensitive magnetic power cord attachment.

The unit represents a reasonable balance among cost, ease of use and maintenance, and frying results. However, if you were to compare this unit to a commercial gas fryer, you likely wouldn't be happy. Simply stated, it can't compare.

I've also used a De Longhi Roto Fryer. This has a tilted basket that rotates through the oil. The result is better fried foods (certainly better than the T Fal) using much less oil. It is also much more expensive, is mechanically complicated, and is a bitch to clean. I prefer the T Fal, but the De Longhi is a better fryer.